As known, the radiological devices currently on the market are able to perform various analyses and have a similar structure. In fact, almost all the known imaging devices comprise a bed on which to place the patient, a control station suitable to control the functioning of the device, and a gantry, that is to say a device having a cavity in which the portion to be analyzed is inserted and suitable to perform imaging of the patient. In detail, in the gantry can be identified an X-ray source, a detector that receives the X-rays after they have passed through the portion to be analyzed, and a movement system suitable to simultaneously move the source and the detector around the patient. In recent years, imaging devices have been supplemented with a robotic arm capable of helping an operator to treat the patient. In these cases, both the radiological imaging device and the robotic arm are situated inside a room and, depending on the acquisition performed by the imaging device, the robotic arm moves towards the patient and thus moves with it a medical instrument (for example a source for radiation therapy) to the body portion of the patient to be treated.
The prior art mentioned above has several significant drawbacks. A first important drawback is the complexity and difficulty of spatially relating the robotic arm and imaging device and thus controlling the relative position between the robotic arm and gantry in order to avoid impact that may damage one of the two elements. To try to solve this problem, the room is often equipped with one or more cameras that, by filming both the imaging device and the robotic arm, enable a control station to identify the relative position between the imaging device and the robotic arm. However, this solution has some important drawbacks. A first drawback is the fact that inside the room there are often operators present who, by moving around the room, obstruct the view of the cameras making it practically impossible to have a continuous control of the relative position between the robotic arm and imaging device. It is to be noted how such visual interference can also be produced by the gantry which, by moving, can come between the camera and robotic arm.
Moreover, another drawback is that, in the case of mobile radiological imaging devices, the imaging device is far from the robotic arm, which is thus unable to reach all the parts of the patient requiring the operator to move the imaging device with the patient on board. This inability of the robotic arm to reach the patient may also be determined by the operator who, assuming certain positions with respect to the bed, may prevent the robotic arm from reaching the desired position. It is also to be noted how such movement of the robotic arm may be very difficult for the operator and, above all, particularly dangerous for the patient given the presence of cannulas, drips or cables connecting the patient to medical instruments.
Another important drawback is that the operator has a limited freedom of movement on account of the presence of the gantry and, in addition, of the robotic arm which, occupying an area adjacent to that of the radiological imaging device, is a hindrance for the operator.